Cambridge Court High School

Session: 2024-2025
Physics Investigatory Project

Variations In Electrical resistances

Submitted To:
Submitted By:
Dept. of Physics
Ridhima Bansal

Class: XII- A
 Roll
no.

Certificate

This is to certify that Ridhima Bansal of class

XII-A has satisfactorily completed the research
project on the topic Variations in Electrical
Resistances under my guidance and supervision.
This project is absolutely genuine. This report is
the result of my endeavors and research .

Internal Examiner External Examiner

 Acknowledgement

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to

my physics teacher for helping and guiding me
throughout the completion of the project and her
vital support, guidance and encouragement ,
without which this project would not have come
forth. I would also like to thank our principal
who gave me the golden opportunity to do this
wonderful project. I would also like to thank my
family members who showered countless
blessings and support. And last but not the least
I would like thank the almighty for giving me
the strength and wisdom to this investigation.
 Index

 Introduction
 Ohm’s Law
 Dependence of resistance on
 Length

 Area of cross section

 Resistivity

 Variations with temperature

 Electric resistance in electrolytic resistance
 Resonant measurement system
 Light illumination dependence
 Applications
 Bibliography
 Introduction
The electrical resistance of an object is a measure
of its opposition to the flow of electric current.
Its reciprocal quantity is electrical conductance,
measuring the ease with which an electric current
passes. Electrical resistance shares some
conceptual parallels with mechanical friction.
The SI unit of electrical resistance is the ohm (Ω),
while electrical conductance is measured
in siemens (S) (formerly called the 'mho').
The resistance of an object depends in large part
on the material it is made of. Objects made
of electrical insulators like rubber tend to have very
high resistance and low conductance, while objects
made of electrical conductors like metals tend to
have very low resistance and high conductance.
This relationship is quantified by resistivity or
conductivity. The nature of a material is not the
only factor in resistance and conductance,
however; it also depends on the size and shape of
an object because these properties are extensive
rather than intensive. For example, a wire's
resistance is higher if it is long and thin, and lower
if it is short and thick. All objects resist electrical
current, except for superconductors, which have a
resistance of zero.For a wide variety of materials
and conditions, V and I are directly proportional to
each other. This proportionality is called Ohm's law,
and materials that satisfy it are
called ohmic materials.

Ohm’s Law
For many materials, the current I through the
material is proportional to the voltage V applied
across it:
I∝V
over a wide range of voltages and currents.
Therefore, the resistance and conductance of
objects or electronic components made of these
materials is constant. This relationship is
called Ohm's law, and materials which obey it are
called ohmic materials. Examples of ohmic
components are wires and resistors. The current–
voltage graph of an ohmic device consists of a
straight line through the origin with positive slope.
Other components and materials used in
electronics do not obey Ohm's law; the current is
not proportional to the voltage, so the resistance
varies with the voltage and current through them.
These are called nonlinear or non-ohmic. Examples
include diodes and fluorescent lamps.

Current Voltage Graph for fluorescent lamps

Dependence
of resistance on Length, Area
& Resistivity
The resistance of an object depends on its shape
and the material of which it is composed. The
cylindrical resistor shown in figure is easy to
analyze and by doing so we can gain insight into
the resistance of more complicated shapes . As you
might see, the electrical resistance R is directly
proportional to its length L, similar to the
resistance of a pipe to fluid flow. The longer the
cylinder, the more collisions. The greater the
diameter of the cylinder, the more current it can
carry. In fact, R is inversely proportional to the
cylinder’s cross sectional area A.
For a given shape , the resistance depends on the
material of which the object is composed. Different
materials offer different electrical resistances to
the flow of charge. We define resistivity rho of a
substance so that resistance R of an object is
directly proportional to rho (ρ). Resistivity is an
intrinsic property that describes the extent to
which a material opposes the flow of electric
current through it. It is a property of the material
itself (not the size or shape of the sample), usually
depends on temperature and may depend on other
quantities such as pressure. Conductors have the
smallest resistivities, insulators have the largest
and semiconductors have intermediate resistivities.
Resistivity of some materials are given below:
Variations with
temperature
When the temperature of the metal conductor is
raised, the atoms/ ions of the metal vibrate with
greater frequency and hence relaxation time ‘τ ’
decreases and resistance of conductor increases.
The resistivity of all materials depends upon
temperature. Some even become superconductors
at very low temperatures. Conversely the
resistivity of conductors increases with increasing
temperature. Since the atoms vibrate more rapidly
and over large distance at higher temperatures,
more collisions are there and so the resistivity is
higher.
Over relatively small temperature changes
resistivity varies with temperature change ΔT as
expressed in the following equation: ρ = ρ0
[1 + α (T – T0)]
 ρ0 is the resistivity at a standard temperature
 ρ is the resistivity at t0 C
 T0 is the reference temperature
 α is the temperature coefficient of the
resistivity
Manganin ( which is made of copper, manganese
and nickel) has α close to zero. This is because some
alloys have been developed specifically to a small
temperature.
Electric resistance in
electrolytic solution
A solution contained in a conductivity cell, with a
given
geometry, presents the conductivity k= (1 /R S)ϑ,
where RS
is the electric resistance due to the solution bulk
between the
electrodes; and ϑ is known as the constant of the
conductivity
cell. Traditionally the evaluation of k has been
made measuring RS with alternating current bridges
using
very small voltages and currents (∼mV, mA), in
conductivity
cells of fixed volume and impolarizable electrodes,
in order to
neglect the undesirable effects in the
measurements. For
the determination of the cell constant, ϑ,
calibration solutions
are usually employed in different concentrations
whose
conductivity values have been determined with
high precision, in different types of cells under
different temperatures. In
this way, with a solution pattern, the resistance is
measured to
know the constant ϑ which is used in any other
solution
evaluation, with the same cell. There is no doubt
that chemical
patterns are the most precise and repeatable way
to calibrate
conductivity cells.

Resonant
Measurement System
It has been demonstrated that a very good model
of
a conductivity cell for many electrolytic solutions,
is the
electrolyte resistance RS in series with the double
layer
capacitance CS, corresponding to electrode-solution
interface. This impedance allows the use of an
external inductance LB(with internal resistance
RB)and an external reference resistance RP, both
variables, to form an RLC circuit which resonates
for a previously selected frequency fo. This allowed
us to measure RS eliminating any significant
contribution of CS, because at the resonance
frequency fo, the inductive part of LB cancels the
double layer capacitance
(CS=(2πf0)−2LB−1)
In this way, the analysis of RS is simplified to a
voltage di-
divider circuit; then RS is expressed by Eq. below
with Vi and Vo the corresponding input and output
vI
voltages to the RCL circuit RS = RP ( v -1)
0

- RB
For accuracy improvement in RS measurement
instead of absolute measurements for Vi and Vo, a
fixed value was established for Vi/Vo ratio, known
with the smallest possible uncertainty (less than
0.1 %).
 Light Illumination
Dependence
Some resistors, particularly those made from
semiconductors exhibit photoconductivity,
meaning that their resistance changes when light
is shining on them. Therefore, they are
called photoresistors (or light dependent resistors).
These are a common type of light detector.
A photoresistor (also known as a light-dependent
resistor) is a passive component that decreases in
resistance as a result of increasing luminosity
(light) on its sensitive surface. The resistance of a
photoresistor decreases with increase in incident
light intensity; in other words it exhibit
photoconductivity. A photoresistor can be used in
light-sensitive detector circuits and light-activated
and dark-activated switching circuits acting
a semiconductor resistance
In the dark, a photoresistor can have a resistance
as high as several megaohms (MΩ), while in the
light, it can have a resistance as low as a few
hundred ohms. If incident light on a photoresistor
exceeds certain frequency, photons absorbed by
the semiconductor give bound electrons enough
energy to jump into the conduction band. The
resulting free electrons conduct electricity,
thereby lowering resistance. The resistance range
and sensitivity of a photoresistor can substantially
differ among dissimilar devices. Moreover, unique
photoresistors may react substantially differently to
photons within certain wavelength bands.

Applications
Photoresistors come in many types.
Inexpensive cadmium sulfide (CdS) cells can be
found in many consumer items such as camera
light meters, clock radios, alarm devices (as the
detector for a light beam), nightlights, outdoor
clocks, solar street lamps, and solar road studs,
etc.
Photoresistors can be placed in streetlights to
control when the light is on. Ambient light falling on
the photoresistor causes the streetlight to turn off.
Thus, energy is saved by ensuring the light is only
on during hours of darkness.
Photoresistors are also used in laser-based security
systems to detect the change in the light intensity
when a person or object passes through the laser
beam.
They are also used in some dynamic
compressors together with a
small incandescent or neon lamp, or light-emitting
diode to control gain reduction. A common usage
of this application can be found in many guitar
amplifiers that incorporate an
onboard tremolo effect, as the oscillating light
patterns control the level of signal running through
the amplifier circuit.

Bibliography

 https://en.wikipedia.org/
 https://www.researchgate.net/
 https://byjus.com/
 https://www.britannica.com/
 https://phys.libretexts.org/
 https://testbook.com/